Why am i shooting to the left

[milo-2]

I'd sure like to know what causes this. Mine seem to wander back where they're supposed to be at 1000. Haven't shot anything between 6 and 1000 to see if it's linear

Once a bullet gets out of it's intended flight path, (point of aim), the only thing that can make it come back into is atmospheric conditions, mainly wind.
Coriolis effect at IK is minimal, and spin drift is for the most part bullet dependent. A sleek high BC 6mm bullet will have far less spin drift than a crappy 30 cal bullet.
You are an interesting case study, don't I sound professional, lol
I am sure interested in your findings if you figure it out.

I can shoot groups at 100 yards, and do extremely well, thing is, I do not like to do it. So therefore, I can shoot groups at distance with better results. In doing so, it works in my favor in the big picture.

 

[Betarider]

Ya, what baffles me is it comes back into center as I get further out. It's got me baffled. But definitely open to suggestions.

Do you know how to get rid of parallax? The more consistent with that the better you will be. I guess you are a little better at it after 600 yards?

 

[nealm66]

Check your trigger finger position on the trigger. Set up your rifle in your rests and see what different finger positions do to the reticle as the firing pin falls on an empty chamber, Trigger finger position is critical for Bullseye shooting and I bet for rifle too.

I shoot so many different rifles with so many different triggers that it really only takes a couple dry fires to get dialed in but it's on the list as I try to break it down

 

[nealm66]

Once a bullet gets out of it's intended flight path, (point of aim), the only thing that can make it come back into is atmospheric conditions, mainly wind.
Coriolis effect at IK is minimal, and spin drift is for the most part bullet dependent. A sleek high BC 6mm bullet will have far less spin drift than a crappy 30 cal bullet.
You are an interesting case study, don't I sound professional, lol
I am sure interested in your findings if you figure it out.

I can shoot groups at 100 yards, and do extremely well, thing is, I do not like to do it. So therefore, I can shoot groups at distance with better results. In doing so, it works in my favor in the big picture.

It could be the wind that brings them back but I've shot in some pretty calm conditions ( for eastern Washington) and I'd think if it would be more to the left but it's not.

 

[nealm66]

Do you know how to get rid of parallax? The more consistent with that the better you will be. I guess you are a little better at it after 600 yards?

Yes, I'm confident with parallex. I do shoot some rifles with very poor scopes and usually just use a holdover and only group to 300. These are for friends that hunt and never shoot much past 200.

 

[nealm66]

All of the inputs are very appreciated. I'm really starting to wonder if it doesn't have something to do with wearing glasses. My eyes are pure crap. I worked as a timber faller for 20 years and never could wear eye protection and the eye doctor said I have a tremendous amount of scar tissue on my lenses. Plus my age now requires bifocals. Maybe the glasses are causing a parallex problem? My son is probably my best bet to have shoot to compare that I would trust his groups but he's been working 80 hour weeks. I am currently waiting on some dies for a 30-378 for a friend that's also a very good shot and that would work as well. Be Christmas before the dies get here ( special order)

 

[CNY Yote Hunter]

Just out of curiosity and back to my original comment on scope parralax, have you tried using a parralax setting in the lower range that doesn't have the issue at the distances with the issue? In other words use a 400 yard setting for your ranges you are having the issues with… may be worth a try.

 

[nealm66]

I think if the parallex isn't set correctly, any change in anchor would definitely not be great for groups even if it did pull my poi over but worth the experiment

 

[milo-2]

I think if the parallex isn't set correctly, any change in anchor would definitely not be great for groups even if it did pull my poi over but worth the experiment

First, I am no expert on parallax as it has never been an issue for me. BUT, I would think if parallax was imparted into a shot, or shots, it would resemble shooting a scope with messed up internals, only on a way more finite scale, no controlling the outcome one direction or another.

 

[milo-2]

I think if the parallex isn't set correctly, any change in anchor would definitely not be great for groups even if it did pull my poi over but worth the experiment

One last thing, you said your eyes were scratched up pretty bad, almost all scopes by adjusting the ocular or eye piece you should be able to shoot w/o corrective lenses. This may be worth a try. though it is tough to fathom that somehow things would relax itself after 600 yards.

 

[nealm66]

One last thing, you said your eyes were scratched up pretty bad, almost all scopes by adjusting the ocular or eye piece you should be able to shoot w/o corrective lenses. This may be worth a try. though it is tough to fathom that somehow things would relax itself after 600 yards.

Thanks for the suggestion, I'll have to give that a try. Spent most of the day taking my friends 30-378 apart and putting it back together. Good grief. He had it in a McMillan stock and an aftermarket brake and drop mags. Evidently it wasn't good so he put it back on the factory stock and factory brake. Well then unknowingly the base came loose. Somewhere in the middle he paid for load development that wouldn't shoot. Wow. Anyways, I get to play with a 30-378 with someone else's money and make it shoot to 1000. Although, at 600, he'll need to aim 3" to the right lol

 

[Teri Anne]

I don`t buy that theory at all.No body places a scope in the rings in exactly the same place as another person does.So if you take a rifle that is pre set up and sighted in.No two people are likely to put their head in the same place as another person does.Everyone that shoots the rifle will likely have a different point of impact and it has nothing to do with knowing how to shoot with a scope.It is the difference in human physical proportions.That is why women with long slender necks shoot a stock with a high roll over comb better than a man with a shorter neck and broad shoulders that is more comfortable with a straight classic style stock.That is why tactical stocks are fully adjustable for LOP,comb height,grip angle.
As to the question of why the rifle shoots to the left,the best idea is to have some one video tape a whole sequence of your shooting.You may not think you are shifting positions as you shoot,but the tape will tell you.The most failure I have seen with folks pulling one way or the other is bad follow through.Huntz

As you mentioned physical attributes vary among people, but those are all compensated for in the selection of the rifle, the stock and mounting of the scope. I have had the opportunity to mount probably two or three hundred scopes during my life time. Each scope mount is finely tuned to the individual who owns the rifle. One cannot just slap on a base, rings and put the scope on them and expect proper operation of the scope and constant bullet impact shot to shot. Once the mounting system is selected the base is installed and set to the manufacturers recommended screw torque setting. Rings are selected to be as low as possible to the bore without hitting the scope touching any part of the rifle. In many cases to accomplish this Iron sights have to be removed. With some types of mounts the rings have to be precision aligned front to rear to ensure that there is no bending of the scope as it is tightened into the ring. Once this is accomplished the scope rings are snugged up so that the scope can be moved to adjust for eye relief and to be level. Eye relief is carefully set so that when the rifle is pulled up into the shooting position that the parallax is based upon that individual's placement of the firearm to the shoulder. Once the correct eye relief (set eye relief does change with different positions) then the scope is leveled, checked so that the reticle is perfectly aligned straight up and down with the center of the bore. At that time when everything is set the rings are torqued, usually between 16 and 18 inch pounds so as not to crush the outer case of the scope. The scope is then bore sighted, I use laser bore sighters to adjust the alignment with the rifle barrel and center of the reticle. At this point the eye relief is rechecked and the bore sight confirmed with the owner of the rifle to ensure all meets with their approval. This results in the rifle able to hit paper at 25 yards as the starting point when sighting in the rifle. Mounting a rifle scope properly is a complex and time consuming procedure in order to do it right. Now comes the second part of the equation, the shooter actually knowing how to shoot a rifle with a scope, which I can safely say that most shooters do not. Ask the average rifle owner what parallax is or what MOA is or how many clicks equal an inch at 100 yards and they probably can't answer the question. If the scope is properly mounted and the eye is perfectly aligned with the center of the ocular lens/eyepiece, the reticle is accurately placed on the target and the process of shooting the bullet is done correctly the bullet will hit precisely as aimed (barring atmospheric conditions that affect bullet flight) If shooter B again aligns his eye with the center of the ocular lens/eyepiece and adjusts to ensure that there is no distortion due to parallax, centers the reticle on the target and fires the rifle, the bullet will, again barring atmospheric conditions go in or close to the exact same point. I have proven this over and over with my rifle students who all start out shooting my rifles with my zero. If they don't hit close to where my zero is then we talk about it and what they did wrong and how to correct it. Eventually, and how long it takes varies with the individual. Once they are able to do that we move on to their rifles which starts out with confirming that the scope is mounted correctly, if not we re-mount it and they go about re=zeroing the rifle. When they are done setting their scope zero I check it by firing a 3 shot group out of their rifle. 90% or more of the time my group is within 1 MOA of theirs. At that point anyone who knows how to shoot a scope and make minor adjustments in eye relief can shoot that rifle.
You may want to watch these videos to learn how to zero your rifles.

how to sight in a rifle scope - Search Videos

www.bing.com

how to sight in a rifle scope - Search Videos

www.bing.com

You may note that in these videos they seem to like close enough for hunting. Well close enoughfor hunting at 100 or 200 yards is nowhere close when you extend the range. When I zero a rifle I like to shoot a 3 shot group at 1 MOA or preferably less. 1 MOA (1 inch) at 100 yards will still equal
1 MOA but that 1 MOA equals a 10 inch group, which may or may not hold into the proper bullet placement on the animal you are shooting at that range.

 

[nealm66]

Really good info. I still see guys after laser bore sighting try to start at 100 and toast a box of ammo. Usually a range master will bring a spotting scope over and help them out. After a guy showed me how to pull the bolt and lineup through the bore, I'll never use a laser again unless I can't pull the bolt. I run into some really knowledgeable folks at the 2 different ranges I shoot at. One guy said his son wrote articles for one of the popular gun magazines. He was eyeballing my 22 creed and said his son just had one built and had published his load work up on it. Spent the whole day with my buddy rebuilding his 30-378. He's an amazing hunter and an excellent shot but man, he really had that rifle screwed up. I pulled a barrel off a 788 action for him a while back and has been debating what to build and saw my little creedmoor and it was like a moth to a light lol.

 

[1985sub4x4]

Easiest way to isolate wether your horizontal stringing is caused by you or an outside variable is someone else behind the trigger. When I first got into handloading and long range shooting I fought horizontal issues. I could pass the gun off to a shooting partner and the issue would disappear. I had to work on my mechanincs and reprogram myself from how I was taught when I was young. Something as small as my thumb grip on the rear of the stock changed my shot immensely. These issues were present my whole life but never presented themslf until I began long range target shooting.